Romeo and Juliet vs. West Side Story

West Side Story and Romeo and Juliet are two dramas that will always live.   Both of these stories have similarities, but there are also differences. These differences include the differences in speech, that Maria doesn\'t die, we never see Tony or Maria\'s parents,the issues of marriage, the importance of gangs and families to each story.



Above, I named a few of the many differences between William Shakespeare\'s Romeo and Juliet and Ernest Leaman\'s movie, West Side Story. One of the main differences is that in Romeo and Juliet the speech is spoken while in West Side Story there is speech, but it is in a song. Both of them express the characters feelings at the moment ,   but   i feel that West Side Story express\' itself more and makes it easier for the people watching the play. An example of this is the balcony sceen   of Romeo and Juliet, Romeo expresses his thoughts in a long speech until Juliet shows up. Romeo and Juliet is all spoken while in West Side Story it is a muscial and its between Maria and Tony.

One of the other main differences is in Romeo and Juliet, Juliet sees Romeo dead and decides to kill herself. However, in West Side Story, Tony does die   because he is shot by Chino. Maria isn\'t that shocked or upset taht she kills her self as Juliet did. That is very important because in Romeo and Juliet, neither one of them is allowed to move on with their lives. As in West Side Story, I\'m sure that Maria moves on with her life to get over Tony. I think if they would show that in the film that it would be a dramtic shock to everyone.



I personally think that the above is true because unlike Romeo and Juliet Maria and Tony weren\'t kept apart by their families like Romeo and Juliet were. However, in West Side Story the only think holding Tony and Maria back was their realtion to the gangs. Maria\'s brother   belonges to the Sharks and Tony belonges to the Jets. It\'s pretty much the same thing as Romeo and Juliet but...